Leading the way with our Vulnerability Hub

Message from Humberside Police:

Our Vulnerability Hub has launched a vulnerability tracker today (Tuesday 1 August), which will map cases of vulnerability within our communities including domestic violence and abuse, vulnerable children and adults, child protection, familial abuse, neglect, physical, emotional, or sexual harm, and even cases of child sexual and criminal exploitation.

The tracker will look at the vulnerability needs of our communities for children and adults, both inside and outside of the home, at a hyper-local level, which will subsequently support place-based problem solving to reduce future need, risk, and demand.

The Vulnerability Hub was launched in June 2022 as part of our journey to becoming an outstanding force and need to work even closer with partner agencies to deliver the best possible service to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. 

The Hub operates seven-days-a-week and consists of a team of 36 officers who deal with all aspects of vulnerability from domestic violence and abuse, vulnerable children and adults, child protection, familial abuse, neglect, physical, emotional, or sexual harm, and even cases of child sexual and criminal exploitation.

The team review all safeguarding referrals submitted by our front-line officers and investigators, both in live time and from the previous 24 hours. They ensure they are triaged effectively, prioritising the highest risk and need first, to ensure it’s signposted to the relevant agency at the earliest opportunity.

When asked about the Vulnerability Hub, Superintendent Phil Booker said: “Our Vulnerability Hub is one central function that enables us to deal with thousands of different cases each month, providing a far more holistic, victim-focused approach to dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

“We looked at all the different resources in our area and have pulled them together for consistency, efficiency and to ensure the standards of service are the same no matter where you are in our force area.

“In order to deliver an outstanding service, we needed to understand the full picture and identify the best agency to target the right people, at the right time at the right place. The primary focus is early intervention, prevention, and diversion; ultimately reducing demand to the front door of our partner agencies, and for the police.

“Due to its success, we’re taking our multi-agency approach national, working with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), College of Policing and the Vulnerability Knowledge & Practice Program to help other forces across the UK understand our model, structures, and processes.

“There’s always room for improvement, and we continue to look at innovative ways to improve the Vulnerability Hub, manage the increased demand, train more officers to become vulnerability experts, and manage partner performance.

“It has been pioneered by our force and is the first of its kind, so it’s something we’re proud of as a team. We were delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase it to the Minister for Safeguarding yesterday (Monday 31 July) too!”